I have been browsing these forums for a few weeks now. I come from a powerlifting background and started o-lifting 3 months ago. I am having extreme troubles with my jerk. I can clean close to 100 pounds more than I can jerk. I feel completely all over the place and don't know what is going wrong. Any feedback would be highly valued.

Thanks!

Here is a video of a 80% jerk, a new PR, then 2 failed attempts at 105%

I know it is normal to get hard in the 105% range. My concern is that I can almost push press the same amount of weight that I jerk. Something isn't right.

It looks like you can work on your drive -- it seems like you're pushing the bar slightly forward as you reach the bottom of your dip/beginning of your drive, which is throwing off your balance and why you're chasing it forward. First, you want drive through the front of the heel, not on the balls of your toes, which is what it looks like you're doing based on bar path and resulting balance. Second, try to keep your hips under the bar as you dip and drive. Lastly, Gregg Everett uses a good cue that I try to use as well: aim for the back of your neck. If you try to aim for the back of your neck, you're going to naturally want to stay more vertical with your dip/drive and it will help you accelerate the bar into the proper position when overhead.

It looks like you can work on your drive -- it seems like you're pushing the bar slightly forward as you reach the bottom of your dip/beginning of your drive, which is throwing off your balance and why you're chasing it forward. First, you want drive through the front of the heel, not on the balls of your toes, which is what it looks like you're doing based on bar path and resulting balance. Second, try to keep your hips under the bar as you dip and drive. Lastly, Gregg Everett uses a good cue that I try to use as well: aim for the back of your neck. If you try to aim for the back of your neck, you're going to naturally want to stay more vertical with your dip/drive and it will help you accelerate the bar into the proper position when overhead.

I hope this helps in some way.

- Javi

Hi Javi,

Thanks for the response. I'm new to all of this so my eye isn't trained well to do the video analysis.

When you say aim for the back of my neck at what point are you referring to? at the start of my drive? or start of my dip? or top of my drive?

Shorten the depth of your dip a little and make sure your hips stay under your shoulders. Right now you're letting the hips move backward slightly and your chest drop. That immediately shifts your weight forward and sets you up to drive the bar forward.

When you drive, think of pushing the bar not just up but slightly backward - this is what Javier was saying - push the bar back over the back of your neck, not straight up.

Keep your chest back as you drive and split - don't reach your head and chest through so soon or as much. Let your chest and head move into position naturally with the effort to move the bar over the back of your neck. Trying to do it the other way (i.e. reach the chest and head) just pushes everything forward, which is another reason you end up in that bad split position with the bar too far forward to support.

Because your push press sounds good, try doing a push press + split jerk - likely you are good at driving the push press properly, i.e. staying upright and balanced and pushing the bar up and back, so this should help you replicated that in the jerk.

You can also try power jerks to help train that more upright and balanced dip/drive and bar placement.

Shorten the depth of your dip a little and make sure your hips stay under your shoulders. Right now you're letting the hips move backward slightly and your chest drop. That immediately shifts your weight forward and sets you up to drive the bar forward.

When you drive, think of pushing the bar not just up but slightly backward - this is what Javier was saying - push the bar back over the back of your neck, not straight up.

Keep your chest back as you drive and split - don't reach your head and chest through so soon or as much. Let your chest and head move into position naturally with the effort to move the bar over the back of your neck. Trying to do it the other way (i.e. reach the chest and head) just pushes everything forward, which is another reason you end up in that bad split position with the bar too far forward to support.

Because your push press sounds good, try doing a push press + split jerk - likely you are good at driving the push press properly, i.e. staying upright and balanced and pushing the bar up and back, so this should help you replicated that in the jerk.

You can also try power jerks to help train that more upright and balanced dip/drive and bar placement.

Hi Greg,

Thanks for the analysis and tips. They worked wonders but it is taking a bit to get used of.

My push press I definitely consciously push the bar up and back. I thought the jerk was different for some reason.

Another primary issue that I am having with my jerk is the lock out. With a push press I can smothly "grind" through the range of motion into a nice locked out position. With the jerk, it feels as if I'm hitting a wall 85-90% of the way up, and then strict pressing the weight up. You can't really tell in those videos from the side, but it is very noticable from the front / back. Especially on my right side. If you watch the video again you can see I failed the 105% attempt because my right side only made it to 70% lock out at the bottom of the split where my left made it to about 90%. I wasn't able to strict press the weight on the one side and I dropped it. If you pause the video at every other attempt, my left arm locks out more than my right and causes me to lose my balance. In the new PR you can actually see me start spinning with the weight overhead because my right arm wasn't locking out.

Any ideas what is going on there? At first I thought it was a mobility issue. However, every "mobility test" I have been told to try, I have passed with flying colors.

It's not mobility if you can lockout your elbows in a push press, it's just bad technique. If you fix the problems i described above, you'll be able to get the bar higher and get your body under it better, which will allow you to lock it out properly. If you and the bar are moving forward, you will never get a proper lockout.

Also try to keep your grip loose. Don't squeeze the bar like you would with a slow strength movement - rely on the legs to drive the bar up, then punch the elbows into full lockout as you split, making sure to allow your hips to move down far enough. Think of trying to lock the elbows at the same time your feet reconnect with the platform.